Senate orders FRSC to stop issuing new number plates and drivers’ license
Thursday, March 01, 2012Omoba
Senate
on Wednesday ordered the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to stop issuing
new vehicle number plates and driver’s license. The order follows the adoption
of a motion on new number and driver’s sponsored by Senator Dahiru Kuta of
Niger state and 19 others.
The Senators during
the consideration of the motion on Wednesday described the new vehicle number
plates issued by the commission as illegal noting that act that set up FRSC
does not empower it to issue number plates.
“The commission was not established principally as a
revenue generating agency for states or Federal Government,” Senator Kuta said
while promoting the motion.
He said the new
driver’s license which the FRSC launched in 2011 “is now issued for N6, 000
as against the N3, 000 while the new number plates have suddenly jumped
from N5, 000 to an astronomical N15, 000,” he added.
Senator
Smart Adeyemi from Kogi state said the cost of the new number plates is too
exorbitant for motorists and is illegal.
He said that the
“FRSC has abandoned its mandate, it was established to ensure safety on
highways, but what the FRSC is trying to do now is to render other government
agencies redundant.”
The
Senate President, David Mark while ruling on the motion said the new number
plates by FRSC was an imposition of additional burden on Nigerians.
“Let them not impose additional expenditure on the people
and their primary objective was not to generate revenue,” he said.
Similarly,
the House of Representatives had in last November asked the FRSC to stop the
issuance of new vehicle number plates and driving licence.
The House had
directed its Committee on FRSC to investigate the “rationale, necessity and
circumstances” for the commission’s decision to replace the existing number
plates and driving licence.
The
FRSC had set a deadline of August 2012 for Nigerian drivers to obtain the new
driving license and number plates which were last year commissioned by
President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to the FRSC
the upgraded license and plate numbers are interlinked and will be connected to
each driver, in order to help the FRSC track all road offences and monitor the
driving behaviour of all vehicle owners.The federal government has already
implemented a number of new schemes to crackdown on the illicit use of the
Internet, especially email scams that attempt to steal money from other users.
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